Ask An Orthodox Priest #6 - Idol Worship, Speaking in Tongues, Pentecostals...

I am an ex catholic, became protestant and finally found the full truth in orthhodoxy. Im done with nonesense and its the best decision I've ever made.❤ I thank God everyday for opening my eyes and leading me in His wonderful, loving ways to Orthodoxy❤

“You haven’t been hurt till you have been hurt by a church” Ooooooph that’s the truth.

His joy is contagious

Orthodox worship with all senses. All of God's gifts which make us human. Honestly icons are illustrated gospels , telling stories and theology

I will say when it comes to speaking in tongues, when I first cried out to God and surrendered my whole life to Jesus for the first time ever, I cried out “Lord, I am done! I surrender!” And the next words that came out of my mouth was speaking in tongues. I had no idea what speaking in tongues were but something happened after I said I surrender to you God. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I saw God doing amazing things for the next 7 years of my life. I worked at a grocery store when I was 18 and God is healing people I work with or at the beach or everywhere else and God is speaking to me exactly about peoples life’s. And it’s all great. Glory to the Triune God. After all this, the past year I’m desiring the Lord more and desiring to learn more and I find myself learning a lot about church history and learning the Bible more than I’ve ever had before (big thanks to brothers like Sam Shamoun and others) I’ve come to the point now where I have a deep love for my brothers and sisters in Christ that go to the Catholic and Orthodox Church whereas before I thought differently about you guys. So glory to God for changing my heart on that. It goes deeper than that but I’m writing a lot. So I’ll save that story for another time. I still serve and go to a Pentecostal church and God has opened doors and used me in mission trips like in Uganda, Dominican Republic, and a lot in Honduras where I’m currently serving right now as I write this message. But I definitely see my theology changing because of scripture and because of the church fathers that continued after the apostles. With that said, I believe God has called me to continue serving at the church I’m going to, to help and bring the church and the youth of the church to what God has for them as they have a big calling on their life and I’m praying that they’ll have an obedient heart to serve the Triune God. But continue to pray for me. I’ve only scratched the surface and I’m still growing spiritually along with my relationship with God where I’m seriously learning more about the Bible how to defend but also about the fullness of the truth in Christianity. I still believe in the power of the Holy Spirit that moves in a mighty way like thru tongues but I do agree alot of it that we see online isn’t biblically sound. But not all of it, is bad. Be blessed🤍

God bless orthodox church and orthodox peoples

I wish we had an Orthodox Church anywhere near us. We fall back on our Catholic roots and brush up as much as we can on orthodoxy. This religion is so honest and truthful and it’s purity of intention has led many to Christ who would otherwise have been confused and astray.

As a Roman Catholic I love learning about yalls liturgy and the saints I just love them and god bless y’all brothers ✝️🇻🇦

I witnessed two times individuals speaking a language they did not know praising God and interceding for the salvation of souls. One was a young lady in WI speaking in the African tribal language in which my dad ministered as a missionary. The other was an African in Ghana who knew no English but was praying in perfect English praising God.

I converted to Orthodoxy because I was seeking truth. The scandals in Roman Catholicism were bad and numerous but I knew that this can happen ANYWHERE. After I was Christmated, my priest was absolutely damaging not only to me but to many in our parish. Still, I am here, still Orthodox and still feel blessed that the Holy Spirit guided me to truth. My conversion had nothing to do with the behavior of the priest. Men err but not the Holy Spirit.

I once read a story of a woman and her husband who were attending a pentecostal service where people around them were speaking in tongues. The woman happened to be educated/fluent in a dead language and suddenly realized, a woman next to her (one of the congregants who was speaking in “tongues”) was actually speaking in this dead language, and was actually blaspheming God. She immediately told her husband they needed to leave and never went back. I’ll never forget that story.

Icons do with paint what the Bible does with words. It took me a few months of being catechumen to understand this (and even then, i dont really). The icons are more than mere images. They are the drawn Bible. They tell stories. This was one thing that I loved learning about.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of GOD have mercy on us sinners ☦️🙏

Oh my word this is my question. I’m so blown away that it got answered.

Although I agree with much of what Fr. James says, as someone who was a practicing Protestant Christian for almost 30 years and then married into the Orthodox church and still worship in an Orthodox church with my family, I would strongly urge any Protestant Christian contemplating conversion to Orthodoxy to evaluate their choice cautiously. No church is without fault, and there are many beautiful things about Orthodoxy - certain tenants of faith such as the working out of salvation (as opposed to just saying "I'm saved" and then going on living your life in sin and hostility towards your fellow man), or the spiritual inhabiting of the Eucharist, are all beautiful. However, icons of figures other than Christ (namely saints) are routinely adored and venerated through processions, kisses, prayers, etc. Fasts, feasts, hymns, and prayers are all dedicated to various saints, which is really the form of idolatry that one should be examining closely when considering entering Orthodoxy, not icons or figures of Christ. The Orthodox church also loves vain repetitions - liturgical services, rites, rituals, prayers, and actions that are repetitive and recitative, and too much emphasis is put on them as a means of connecting with God. If repetitive, liturgical worship is your thing and you're open to venerating and praying through saints, than Orthodoxy may be for you. There's a myriad of other issues I have with the Orthodox church, even after years of conversing with priests and reading numerous tests. I love the community, the priests, and the general sense of devotion but so much of the dogma concerns me. Oh and also, be prepared to have to be re-baptized because the Orthodox church will not recognize your Protestant baptism as authentic (as it does not fall within "Apostolic succession). I'm not saying to avoid Orthodoxy wholly, but just approach it with scrutiny and caution. However, if there were no Protestant churches and you had to choose between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, 100% I would suggest Orthodoxy. They would have you believe that due to the leadership of their counsels, the Orthodox church is systematically and dogmatically perfect, but you'd be a fool to believe that for a second.

Having come out of years of occult studies, esoteric teachings, comparative religions, I fully understand the phycology behind rituals, sight , sounds , smells , touch to connect spiritually. The object of our worship is what's most important. The object and intent of our sight, sounds, smells, touch is what's important.

A few months ago, we had a substitute priest serving liturgy because Fr. James was at Mount Athos. In fact, it was Fr. John Betancourt, who is also in a lot of Roots of Orthodoxy videos. Anyway, I went up for a blessing, and he smiled and came this close to giving me the eucharist, and I had to shake my head, "No! Father, a blessing please!" He smiled and gave me a blessing.

I visited a messanic Jewish church and when the Rabbi brought out the Torah, everyone kissed it.

Very impressed by the sincere explanation.

Thank you for inspiring me to be a better Christian today. God bless 🙏😇